'Carnival of Jeopardy?' - RIAA to lecture students at ASU

Arizona State University’s “Security Awareness Week” began yesterday, and the “Carnival of Jeopardy,” as the 4-day event is tragically called, includes a presentation by the RIAA on “copyright issues”.

Promising to help students learn how to protect their computer, data, and identity, it’s ‘Security Awareness Week’ at Arizona State University, and today’s schedule includes a talk by the RIAA’s VP of technology, David Hughes.

The RIAA is apparently taking its recent crackdown on college campus file-sharing from the mailbox to the streets, embarking on what is presumably the first in a series of face to face meetings with students across the country so as to have a chance to look them in the eye and scare them straight in person.

There’s no word on whether Mr. Hughes will have them practice writing $3,000 USD settlement checks but, I’m sure he’ll be mentioning it over, and over, and over, and over again.

Now we all know how misguided the RIAA’s litigation strategy has been from practically the very start but, is it just me or does this new “In Your Face Tour” seem like it’s taking things to the next level? I mean what’s next, teams of RIAA tech guys going to elementary, middle, and high schools telling kids to “Dare not to use P2P?” or “Just Say No to P2P?”

What will be funny to see is how many students in the audience get a chance to stand up and ask Mr. Hughes why it is suing it’s supposedly “best customers,” and the customers who can least afford the $3000 USD bucks that it is demanding in each case?

Considering that the cost of in-state tuition at ASU is $4,688 a year, the prospect of some students having to tack on almost an extra year’s worth of tuition is bound to anger more than a few people, especially if it’s over a handful of songs by mediocre artists. The fact that it’s part of an event called “Carnival of Jeopardy” only worsens the matter I’m sure.

The RIAA blames file-sharing for the precipitous decline in CD sales music revenue but, isn’t it the fact that people can now now buy digital singles off of the likes of iTunes instead of being saddled with the $20 dollar cost of a physical CD filled with tracks they don’t want or won’t listen to? Hmm, the RIAA never talks about that one.

In any event, for those of you who attend ASU, “RIAA & Copyright Issues” will be held early this afternoon from 10 – 11:15 a.m. in Computing Commons Auditorium 120.

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SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”